A Message from Above
Introduction to 1st Edition
On Saturday afternoon against Southampton, Nottingham Forest played ninety minutes of relentless kick and run football. Mortified at the affront to years of sublime Forest style, the soul of Nottingham Forest departed this earth shortly after 4:45 p.m. Waiting aboard the spaceship Hale-Bopp which was to take it and other souls to a higher place, the soul met that of the mighty Allen Ginsberg. Together they composed this howl of anguish and published it on the Internet.
Howl
AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH
I
I saw the best footballing traditions of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, catapulted through the City Ground skies at 3:00 p.m. on a Saturday, headless, spin-doctored chickens running wildly, aimlessly after dive-bombing Hale-Bopps and other highballs, once noble, ball-to-feet artists launching soaring stratospheric Garryowens into the rarefied air above the opposition’s back four, angelheaded tricky magicians,
who struggled incapable, trying to forget a lifetime’s learning,
who humped and hoofed and wellied and shovel-footed without care for logic or style,
who laboured to understand that if God had meant that football be played on grass, he would have given sheep studs,
who toiled wearily to avoid stringing two passes together, who deliberately and wantonly tore the very soul out of our once noble club with ugliness and infamy,
who stood around the ball on the changing room floor and were told it was their enemy, that it had to be hated and rejected and given away at every possible opportunity,
who feared to caress the ball, to stroke it, to glance it, to place it, to love it,
who wantonly abused the ball in pointless competition to see who could raise it highest above the angel-haired City Ground grass,
who kicked and hoped when hope on its own was plainly unjustified,
who assaulted and raped and butchered the proud heart of the club, leaving it crying, abused, shamed, and forgotten.
II
Moloch, I know you!
Moloch whose creed is long forward passes to get the ball deep into the opposition half as quickly as possible!
Moloch who cares nothing for beauty, grace, or style!
Moloch who is head coach of the Canaanite boys team, whose tactics are notorious throughout world football!
Moloch your crimes are legion!
Moloch Entire! Oh mist rolling in from the Trent please hide this abomination from us.
III
Nottingham Forest, I am with you.
I’m with you Johnny Carey who had the Reds fizz the ball around till it crazed the opposition like blue-tailed flies buzzing in the July sun
I’m with you Ian Moore who jinked and twisted through the sixties and so loved Forest that he gave his namesake to save us
I’m with you Stuart Pearce and always with you as you are always with us
I’m with you Terry Hennessey, your broad majesty commanding from the back
I’m with you Duncan McKenzie and with every trick in your book
I’m with you Joe Baker, King Joe, your impish runs, your quick feet, your memorable goals, your free spirit
I’m with you loyal Trent Enders and have stood with you through highs and lows and know as you do that winning and losing are but one and the same whereas playing the way we did on Saturday is another planet
I’m with you Robbo whose cross one year and shot the next gave us our most glorious memories
I’m with you Bomber whose energy kept us going
I’m with you Dessie whose skill and speed never failed us
I’m with you Cloughie who stood tall and proud. Whose teams never once turned their back on the one true way.
Links
Howl by Allen Ginsberg | Poetry Foundation
Background
On February 27th, 1997, Forest hired Harry Bassett to assist Stuart Pearce as manager of Nottingham Forest. Bassett had formerly been manager of Wimbledon, famous for their direct style of play and the antithesis of everything Forest stood for.
Forest beat Spurs on March 1st, but fail to win another game that season and slip into the relegation places, eventually finishing bottom.
On April 5th 1997, Forest lose 3-1 at home to Southampton. Also on 5th April 1997, possibly as a result of the 3-1 defeat, Allen Ginsberg departs this earth.
On April 6th 1997, Ginsberg’s Howl is rewritten as a lament for the soul of football.
This may well be unfair on Bassett. He got us promoted in 1998 and he wasn’t the main reason we failed in the 98/99 season: From Heroes to Villains: the story of van Hooijdonk and Bassett’s time at Nottingham Forest (footballwhispers.com). However, there can be no arguing the fact that the Forest style changed for the worse after he arrived.
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